Boulder County neighbors concerned about pot grow expansion

The Growing Company wants to add 10 greenhouses to Baseline Road facility

A Boulder County medical marijuana business is seeking to expand its grow operation tenfold and double its footprint, adding 22,000 square feet of greenhouse space to a facility at 8401 Baseline Road.

The proposal has residents in the surrounding rural neighborhoods concerned about everything from odor to water use to traffic to security, and they want Boulder County's Planning Commission to turn down the proposal.

"It's like moving in next to that little airport in Erie and then they tell you they're going to turn it into DIA," said Jeremy DeBacker, who lives on Bluebird Lane, just east of the facility, which had been vacant until The Growing Company started operations in 2009.

The Growing Company is going through a special use review, and county planning officials have not yet made a recommendation.

The company occupies roughly 20,000 square feet on 24 acres, including a brick office building, a hoop house and other outbuildings. The proposed expansion calls for 10 additional greenhouses of 2,200 square feet each, for a total of 22,000 square feet, to be built west of the office building.

The request requires a special use review from the county because it will exceed 25,000 square feet of total developed space on the property and because there are two principal uses -- an infused product manufacturing facility and a retail dispensary -- on the same property. The grow operation is considered an accessory use to the two principal uses, said Steven Williams, a Boulder County planner.

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Company representatives did not return phone calls seeking comment.

In documents filed with the county, The Growing Company says the new greenhouses will be more environmentally sustainable because they will use sunlight, rather than artificial lights, and the distance from neighboring properties means the impacts will be minimal. They also say the proposed expansion is less intensive than previous uses of the property.

The company's marijuana business license from the county is on hold pending the results of the special use review.

Liz Donaghey, the county's medical marijuana licensing authority, said the Growing Company is one of 47 companies that have applied for marijuana licenses in the county. Of those, 45 are now operating, but only two have completed the licensing process.

Until the county adopted marijuana-specific regulations last summer, pot businesses were required only to fill out a land-use regulation form. The Growing Company was twice found in violation of county regulations, once for putting out a sign that wasn't permitted and once for building the first hoop house, but it corrected both violations, according to county records.

Donaghey said she doesn't have a record of odor violations associated with the existing facility, but neighbors said they frequently catch the pungent smell of marijuana on the breeze. They're worried that smell will be much worse when there are 10 more greenhouses.

However, many neighbors said marijuana isn't their primary concern about the property.

"They could be manufacturing teddy bears there," DeBacker said. "It's still manufacturing" in an otherwise rural area, where small subdivisions are broken up by farms and open space.

They worry the company has underestimated its water use in an area reliant on wells, some of which have had to be redrilled due to falling water levels, and they worry about how wastewater from the extraction process will be treated.

Mary-Elizabeth Callaway, who lives in the Paul Nor neighborhood northwest of the facility, said Baseline Road historically does not have retail stores, in part because of traffic concerns. There are few turn lanes on the two-lane road that carries significant commuter traffic.

Callaway said she would prefer no retail at all, but at least the existing business isn't too obvious.

"It's clear they're going from a small, discreet place to a very large, public facility, and that's what concerns us," she said.

One of the biggest aesthetic concerns is a proposed 10-foot fence and new lighting for the facility. The intent of the fence is to address security concerns, but neighbors worry it will make them less safe.

"That fence is not there to keep the neighbors out and it's not there to keep the marijuana from jumping the fence," said John Ritzenthaler, who lives nearby on Baseline Road. "It's going to attract a criminal element, and if they're deterred by the fence, our concern is that they'll look for softer targets in the neighborhood."

Ritzenthaler said the property has always been an anomaly in the area, and allowing it to expand will just make the problem worse.

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